In light of the disturbing accounts surrounding Harvey Weinstein, Roy Moore, and Al Franken (among others), it would seem obvious that the discipline of chastity and the innocence of purity have a much-needed place in our world today. The uplifting witness and liberating message of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s purity can shed light on higher values and point each of us and our civic and cultural leaders to a better way of life.

The Vatican on Saturday admitted there were “signals” starting in 2013 about the case at St. Pius X Pre-Seminary, which serves middle- and high school students who serve as altar boys in St. Peter’s Basilica. The Vatican said it is now investigating press reports that a student was 13 years old when he started demanding sex from a younger student at night.

Gianluigi Nuzzi, one of the journalists charged by the Vatican in 2015 in the Vatileaks II case, has written a new book covering scandals in the Vatican. He alleges sexual abuse of a minor took place at a seminary within Vatican City, and that Mother Teresa’s account at the Vatican Bank was so large, the institution would have defaulted if she removed the money.

Pope Francis on Wednesday accepted the resignation of Bishop Hubertus Leteng of Indonesia’s Ruteng diocese. The Vatican sent an investigator to look into allegations that Leteng had a mistress and secretly borrowed $94,000 from the Indonesian bishops’ conference and another $30,000 from the diocese without accounting for it.

At the moment, the Vatican finds itself facing two less-than-edifying storylines, one involving a priest in the papal embassy in Washington, D.C., suspected of possible violations of child pornography laws, and the other featuring a Vatican trial for financial misappropriation against former officials of a papally-sponsored pediatric hospital. Here are a few resources for thinking intelligently about each.